Ford to announce sale of Volvo to China

UPDATE Ford Motor Co. plans to complete the sale of Volvo Cars to Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. next week, marking the biggest acquisition of a global brand by a Chinese company, people familiar with the plans said Wednesday. Ford is selling Volvo to Geely for $1.8 billion, less than a third of what it paid for the Swedish carmaker in 1999, as part of the Dearborn automaker's strategy to focus on its blue-oval brand.

03/28/10 Ford Volvo and Chinese automaker Geely have scheduled a news conference at 9:30 a.m. today to announce an agreement to sell Volvo.

The event will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, at Volvo’s headquarters with Geely Chairman Li Shufu, Volvo Cars President and CEO Stephen Odell and Ford CFO Lewis Booth, Ford spokesman Mark Truby said.

The announcement will cap months of negotiations between the companies and represents one the most prominent foreign brands to be purchased by a Chinese company.

The sale will allow Ford to concentrate on its three core brands – Ford, Lincoln and Mercury – and is expected to be valued at about $1.8 billion. It also caps the sale of a number of brands in recent years. Since 2007 Ford has sold Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover and has reduced its ownership stake in Mazda. Ford acquired Volvo in 1999 for $6.4 billion.